Getting Started with Data-Driven Decision Making: A Workbook

Transcription

1 Getting Started with Data-Driven Decision Making: A Workbook JANUARY 2 13 An NTEN Workbook prepared by SW Taylor Street Suite 800 Portland, Oregon p: f:

2 Introduction Over the last few years, NTEN has been working with nonprofits to understand how to better wrangle all the data they re creating and that s available to them into improved results more mission impact. In 2010, we organized an online workshop we affectionately titled Taming the Data Monster. That workshop focused on the data and story side of the equation: how to translate the data you have into a snapshot of the work you are doing today (and yesterday). The workshop was designed for the Communications and IT Staff who have the task of collecting and distributing data in effective and meaningful ways. But what about the steps an organization has to take before collecting or analyzing the data? How do we determine which data matters in the first place, and how that data will impact the direction of our work? In 2012, NTEN was able to survey a sample of US nonprofits to find out how they were doing when it comes to being data-driven: were they collecting data and tracking metrics? Were they finding that data useful for making organizational decisions? With the financial support of Google and the research expertise of Idealware, we published the 2012 State of Nonprofit Data report which indicated that nonprofits weren t having success with those strategic steps in the equation: almost all nonprofits were collecting and tracking some type of metrics, but only a small fraction were finding that data useful for making decisions that impacted their programmatic work. Clearly, there was a disconnect between the tactical work of collecting and tracking data and the strategic work of defining and using the data for the organization s mission. With this workbook, we hope to provide nonprofit leaders with a set of worksheets that will help guide thinking and planning around more effective data strategies. While these worksheets are part of the strategic process of defining the right questions, metrics, and plans for effecting data-driven decisions, and this workbook is designed for nonprofit leaders executive directors, board members, and other organizational leadership staff who develop strategies and are responsible for making organizational decisions it will be helpful to include input and discussion from various staff. For example, worksheets 4 and 5, especially, could benefit from input from your program, communications, and data or IT team members. Overall, we acknowledge that it s important that your entire team buys-in to the strategy data collection, analysis, and reiteration is a cultural shift for many of us, and it s something that can t be done once or intermittently or inconsistently across your organization if we re going to be more effective. All of this takes investment of time and resources as well as vision. That s why this workbook includes worksheets that will help you think through the onboarding and budgeting processes as well. You may want to go through this workbook separately for various projects or go through it again to re-define or update your metrics. In any case, we hope you ll find this workbook helpful for launching or improving data strategies that will impact your organization s work. We d like to thank Google for providing financial support for this project, and Idealware for helping us produce this workbook. Annaliese Hoehling Publications Director, NTEN GETTING STARTED WITH DATA-DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING JANUARY 2013

3 Table of Contents Welcome... 2 Worksheets 1. Define Your Action Question What Does This Question Mean To Your Organization? How Will You Know What the Right Metrics Are? What Could You Measure? What Data Do You Have? Find The Metrics That Make Sense For You The Metric Creation Process Define a Process for Using Them to Make Decisions Create an Implementation Action Plan About NTEN and Idealware PAGE 1 GETTING STARTED WITH DATA-DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING JANUARY 2013

4 Welcome Could you use more help thinking through how to use data to help your organization make decisions? If so, you re not alone. Our recent report on how nonprofits are using data showed that although some organizations are relying heavily on data, a number were doing very little to measure their work. Measuring may not be as difficult as you suspect. When we talked to experts, they agreed that simply starting to track a few strategic metrics was a huge step toward a more data-based culture. Once your staff has data that they can use to make decisions, they will often start to want more. A few, straightforward metrics can start the snowball to a more broad-based program. Getting started isn t a trivial process, however. What metrics will be useful and actionable but not require a ton of time to collect and understand? How do you define and communicate data in order for your organization to make decisions? This workbook will help you with those questions. If you have a vague idea of what you d like to measure, you can start with the first worksheet and proceed in order through the workbook. It will walk you through the process of choosing and refining initial metrics, defining how you will collect the data, and explaining how to disseminate that data for decision making. If you re further down the path than that, feel free to pick and choose the worksheets that make sense for your needs. You may just want to think about the process for creating and using your metrics or narrow down a list of metrics that will have the most impact. As you re thinking about data-based decision making for your organization, don t forget the other resources in this research series. The 2012 State of Nonprofit Data report provides information about what nonprofits are doing with data and the factors that contribute to (or impede) success. We ve also gathered ten case studies outlining how ten different organizations are using data to make decisions. They are available online in NTEN s case study section.. Don t feel overwhelmed by data. The journey to data-based decision making, like any, begins with the first step. In this case, you can begin with the first worksheet. Once you start defining the metrics that will help your organization, you may find that it s easier than you thought. PAGE 2 GETTING STARTED WITH DATA-DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING JANUARY 2013

5 1. Define Your Action Question This workbook is designed to help you hone some of the metrics that will be practical and meaningful for you in a particular area. To focus your efforts more productively, start by identifying the general area you want to use this workbook to explore in more detail. Choose an item from the box to the right that resonates with you, or define your own based on a topic your organization has been talking about. What s an area you want to explore? Recruiting patients POSSIBLE ORGANIZATIONAL AREAS FOR EXPLORATION Recruiting clients Efficiency of a process Projecting future income A specific program Annual campaign Facebook outreach list-building Staff development Staff recruitment... Or choose your own Now define a particular action question within that area. It s not going to be easy your action question must be specific enough to be measurable and to help you decide how to move forward, but also important enough to really matter to your organization. Let s start by brainstorming. What are some tactical questions you d ideally like to be able to answer in this area that would help your organization improve? 1. How can we improve patient attendance? 2. How can we increase number of referrals? 3. How can we increase patient case load? 4. How can we increase number of units per day? 5. How can occupational therapy increase patient motivation? WHAT MAKES A GOOD QUESTION? Stumped as to the type of question we re looking for? Try to think of something that will help your organization improve and that you can have an impact on but that can also be tested and measured. For example, How can we improve fundraising? is too broad it s not easy to pin down what you would specifically do to affect or measure it. What s our open rate? is too narrow and it s not clear how it relates to organization goals. Look for a question that s both important and detailed enough to be testable, such as Is our blog worth the time we spend on it? or How can we improve program attendance? PAGE 3 NONPROFIT DATA DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK JANUARY 2013

6 Let s drill a little more deeply into those questions. Refer to the questions you defined above by number. Will the answer to this question help you improve as an organization? Will your actions as an organization affect the answer to this question? Can numbers help you answer the question? Is the question testable? Can you create a hypothesis about a potential answer, and then test it? QUESTION 1. / No Why or why not? Lately having too many cancellations and no shows / No Why or why not? The more or less patients we see affect productivity / No Why or why not? It is based on numbers / No Why or why not? Increasing patient motivation can increase attendance 2. Not receiving enough of new referrals The number of new referrals brings in more patients per therapist It is based on numbers Increasing marketing can bring in new referrals 3. Not enough patients for every therapist Therapists are not getting enough hours and units It is based on numbers Increasing patient attendance and referrals increase patient case load for each therapist 4. Schedule conflicts affect number of units Can help increase number of units per day It is based on numbers Changing or working with schedule and time can improve number of units 5. Patients are not motivated Increase yes motivation and thus attendance Can be based on percentages Can be tested against other type of media Think through the answers you gave above. For one or more of the questions, were you able to answer in all of the boxes? If so, pick one of those questions to explore with this workbook, or combine multiple questions together to define one overarching question. (Note that if you combine multiple questions into one, you might want to plug it into the table above to make sure it fits all the criteria.) Write your question here: How can we increase patient attendance, referrals and patient case load? Did you answer No to at least one of the criteria for all of your questions in the table above? If so, those questions will be difficult to answer using metrics. Brainstorm some other questions that are important but also measurable to get to a place where you can define an action question that will be the framework for the remainder of this workbook. PAGE 4 NONPROFIT DATA DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK JANUARY 2013

7 2. What Does This Question Mean To Your Organization? What would different people in your organization want to know about this question in terms of how it affects their own jobs? How much does each care about the information at all? It s likely that there are a number of different perspectives about it. Not sure what people would like to know? Ask them... In the mock organization chart below, do two things: In the small box in the upper left, define how important the information would be to each type of role in your organization (High, Medium, or Low). In the larger space in each box, list some of the key pieces of information that a person in that role in particular might be interested in seeing. Don t worry about what s possible or practical just yet, simply brainstorm what they d ideally like to see. FOR EXAMPLE High Board High ED/CEO High Other High Summary of attendance numbers High level demographics -Higher number of patients per therapist -Increased number of units -Higher productivity -Higher productivity -Insurance approvals -Higher number of evaluations -Higher number of patients to fill up schedule -Higher number of evaluations High Other High Other Program High Directors -Higher number of patients under caseload -Higher number of patients under case load Fundraising/ Marketing Directors -Increase number of referrals Other Line Staff Line Staff Other Now that you ve thought that through, do a reality check: Do other people care about this question too? If you re the only person who really cares, is it an important question for your organization? PAGE 5 NONPROFIT DATA DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK JANUARY 2013

8 3. How Will You Know What the Right Metrics are? Soon we ll define metrics to help you answer your question. Metrics provide a numerical yardstick to help you determine whether your efforts are making a difference and if so, in what direction. Before we go too far down that road, think through how you ll judge whether the metrics will actually help you define what you really want to know. There are different ways to think about this. Pick one of the questions below that seems to make the most sense in the context of your overall action question and write a brief description of what success will look like in this process. 1. What specific decisions do you want to be able to make based on the answer to your question? Increase marketing to bring in more referrals and thus increase patient caseload. Increase patient motivation to increase number of patient attendance OR What things will you need to understand in order to feel you have real knowledge to address your question? Its important to understand what type of media, equipment or materials are needed to help patients to be more consistent. Knowing what their interest are, what they like and what specific things motivate them will assist in increasing attendance and case load OR Will any answer to your question feel like success, or will you need to achieve a specific result to feel successful? In order to feel a sense of success, an increased motivation and attendance has to be observed at least with current patients. PAGE 6 NONPROFIT DATA DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK JANUARY 2013

9 4. What Could You Measure? There are a lot of different things you could measure for any given thing. Brainstorm the different actions you could take that might have an impact on your overall question and the metrics you could use to measure it. A metric is a number often either a count or a percentage that measures your success in an area. 1. WHAT ACTIONS COULD YOU TAKE THAT WOULD HAVE AN IMPACT ON YOUR ACTION QUESTION? Action Increase patient motivation What metric could you use to measure this? For instance, # participants, % satisfaction, # units provided. Do you have the ability to affect the measurement? Is it something you could change through your actions? Answer or No. If you were to measure this, how many people in your organization would care? 1= Almost No One 5= The Whole Organization To what extent would seeing a measurement for this help you improve your organization? 1= Only slightly 5= Completely transformed To what extent would your org s actions quickly result in a change to the measurement? 1= Very hard to see change 5= Actions visibly change metric almost immediately 80% Continuing Ed. 80% Courses in OT Help marketing 20% Build good relationship with patient 80% WHAT ACTIONS COULD YOUR CONSTITUENTS TAKE THAT WOULD AFFECT YOUR ACTION QUESTION? Action What metric could you use to measure this? For instance, # participants, % satisfaction, # units provided. Do you have the ability to affect the measurement? Is it something you could change through your actions? Answer or No. If you were to measure this, how many people in your organization would care? 1= Almost No One 5= The Whole Organization To what extent would seeing a measurement for this help you improve your organization? 1= Only slightly 5= Completely transformed To what extent would your org s actions quickly result in a change to the measurement? 1= Very hard to see change 5= Actions visibly change metric almost immediately Help be creative 70% Continuing Ed. 80% Course in Speech Therapy Giving patient choice of appt. date and time 70% Now sum up the last three columns to create a Usefulness Score Now sum up the last three columns to create a Usefulness Score PAGE 7 NONPROFIT DATA DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK JANUARY 2013

10 4. What Could You Measure? Get other dept to help with marketing 20% PAGE 8 NONPROFIT DATA DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK JANUARY 2013

11 3. WHAT ACTIONS COULD OTHER PEOPLE TAKE THAT WOULD AFFECT YOUR ACTION QUESTION EVEN IF THEY AREN T IMMEDIATELY ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR ORGANIZATION? Action What metric could you use to measure this? Do you have the ability to affect the measurement? Is it something you could change through your actions? If you were to measure this, how many people in your organization would care? To what extent would seeing a measurement for this help you improve your organization? To what extent would your org s actions quickly result in a change to the measurement? Now sum up the last three columns to create a Usefulness Score Insurance approval Not appealing case Not switching doctors For instance, # participants, % satisfaction, # units provided. Answer or No. 1= Almost No One 5= The Whole Organization 1= Only slightly 5= Completely transformed 1= Very hard to see change 5= Actions visibly change metric almost immediately 40% No % % Draw a line through anything in the table above that you said in the third column you didn t have control over. Here you should be focused on being able to measure and improve your own actions, so measurement of external factors is less relevant. For the rest of the rows, based on which have the highest total score in the righthand column and your gut reaction to how well the total score reflects reality, choose six that seem promising for exploring your action question. For each, copy the metric, from the second column, and the overall sum for that row into into the table below. Metric Sum (Usefulness Score) Increase patient motivation 80% 15 Help marketing 20% 13 Build good relationship with patients 80% 13 Help be creative 70% 15 Giving patient choice of appointment date and time 70% 15 Get other departments to help with marketing 20% 13 PAGE 9 NONPROFIT DATA DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK JANUARY 2013

12 5. What Data Do You Have? The next step in this process is to identify the data sources for the metrics you ve said you d like to track (if you can t collect the data, then you won t be able to track that metric). For each of the six metrics you defined on the previous page, think through the data you have that relates. Metric (from previous worksheet). Increase patient motivation 80% What related data is currently manually entered into a system? Data log to manually record therapeutic equipment and supplies we buy What related data is automatically tracked by a system? No system utilized to compute data automatically Help Hours of Marketing No system utilized marketing 20% Marketer keep to compute data track of automatically information in log What additional relevant data about actions, perceptions, or processes could your staff collect that they aren t currently collecting? Buying latest therapeutic equipment such as game boards, cause n effect toys, balls Marketing on new locations Find new ways of marketing What related data could you get from other organizations or public sources? Comparing therapy equipment with other clinics Research areas of greater needs Doctor clinics 6 5 Looking across what you ve written for each column, score the overall ease of collecting data to get this metric. 1= Would require vast new investment 10= We already have it Build good relationship with patients 80% Help be creative 70% Giving patient choice of appointment date and time 70% Visual Observation No system utilized to compute data automatically Data log to manually record craft supplies and activities Data manually recorded in scheduler book No system utilized to compute data automatically No system utilized to compute data automatically How much they know about the subject Research on how to 10 build good relationships with patients and caregivers What patients like Research new craft or are interested in activities and regards to crafts supplies for holidays or special occasions Buy software that Types of software helps compute data available to best faster and easier suit the needs of our patients 8 5 Get other Visual Observation No system utilized departments to compute data involved in automatically marketing 20% Suggest new ways for marketing Research latest way 10 of marketing PAGE 10 NONPROFIT DATA DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK JANUARY 2013

13 USEFULNESS 6. Find The Metrics That Make Sense For You You ve rated the usefulness of each metric (in Worksheet Four), and the difficulty of getting the data (in Worksheet Five). Now plot each metric using those two scores Metric 5 Metric1 Metric Metric2 Metric3 Metric EASE OF COLLECTING DATA It likely makes sense to start with the metric that is closest to the top and right of the plot. Choose one metric (or a small number) that will provide you the biggest bang for the buck. As you grow comfortable with that metric, you may want to add more that also seem useful into the mix. What metric will you start with? 20% help marketing, sum of 13 and a score of 10 HOW TO PLOT YOUR METRICS If your metric had a sum of 6 according to worksheet four, and a score of 5 according to worksheet five, then you d plot that metric like this example PAGE 10 NONPROFIT DATA DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK JANUARY 2013

14 7. The Metric Creation Process Even if the data is readily at hand, the metrics won t create and distribute themselves. It s important to map out the flow of how the data will become an accurate metric both to make sure you ve thought it through, and to acknowledge the actual work that will be required from your staff to ensure success. Think through this process for your metric. Data Sources Therapy Websites, Research, Doctors Clinics, Ability of staying competitive How is this data entered into a system? Data needs to be entered manually by therapists or marketer Where is it stored? Who creates the metric from the data? Occupational Therapy Practitioner and Marketer Front Office for easier access What s the incentive to ensure it s entered? Who distributes it? Increased patient case load, working hours, higher salary Occupational Therapy Practitioner and Marketer Who s in charge of this whole process? Occupational Therapist Practitioner How will you spot-check to ensure the metric accurately reflects reality? By making sure correct data is being collected, measures are interpreted correctly and verifying if metric is useful. PAGE 11 NONPROFIT DATA DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK JANUARY 2013

15 8. Define A Process for Using Them to Make Decisions You not only need a process for creating your metrics you need a process to actually use them. This is one of the most critical steps. If a metric measures in a forest with no one around to hear it, it does not make a sound... How frequently will you create the metrics? Every Month Who will they be distributed to? To all Therapy Providers and Marketer In what meetings will they be used? Case Conference Meetings and Staff Meetings How frequently will you plan to adjust your actions based on what the metrics say? What decisions shouldn t be made without them? Every one or two weeks depending on necessary changes No decision should be made without them How frequently will you check in on whether the metrics themselves are an effective way to measure what you re trying to measure? To be effective, data will be check every week to make sure we are not wasting time and losing on productivity. PAGE 12 NONPROFIT DATA DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK JANUARY 2013

16 9. Create an Implementation Action Plan Congratulations! You ve defined a strategy to create and use metrics to measure a core question for your organization. But a strategy is one thing, and implementation is another to speed you on your way to a successful rollout of your metrics, think through the implementation steps. People You ll Need to Get Onboard Who are the core individuals who will need to buy in? Think through both the official people who need to be onboard and the other people who might become barriers if they re not included. List them below. Then think through the right way to include them in the process: ? Presentation? Discussion? Person or Group Chief Executive Officer/Administrator Patient/Patient Care Giver Occupational Therapy Registered/Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants Speech Pathologist/Speech Pathologist Assistant Front Office Staff Marketer Method of Including Them Discussion Presentation/Staff Meeting Presentation/Staff Meeting Presentation/Staff Meeting Presentation/Staff Meeting Processes You ll Need to Define On the previous worksheets, did you define processes for collecting, analyzing, or distributing metrics that need to be more fully fleshed out? If so, define what they are and how you ll put more detail around them. Maybe another meeting? More documentation? A larger project? Process Method of Defining N/A PAGE 13 NONPROFIT DATA DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK JANUARY 2013

17 Things You ll Need to Allocate a Budget For Have you defined a process that involves things that you don t already have for example, a survey tool, a bar code scanner, a new staff member, or maybe a consultant to think it all through? Itemize anything new that needs to be paid for, and what process you ll need to go through to select and purchase the product. Item to Buy New Therapy Equipment New Craft Supplies Office/ Appointment Software Printing Services for New Ways of Marketing Purchase Process On-line Orders Retail Stores Retail Store/On-line Order Printing Service Provider Other Things You ll Need to Make Happen Are there other things that need to happen before you can move forward? List them here along with useful details. Additional Step Administration/Management Approval Increased Budget for Ordering Supplies Increased Budget for Marketing Get Staff on Board Details Waiting Period for Response Fund Availability Fund Availability Waiting for Response Those are your next steps but they re probably not in the right order. Go back through that list and decide what you should do first: Talk to some people? Define a process? Put a number 1 next to that step. Determine what s next and put a number 2 next to it. Continue through the whole list until you have an entire action plan in approximately the correct order. And then go start with the first item on your list! PAGE 14 NONPROFIT DATA DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK JANUARY 2013

18 About NTEN NTEN, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is the membership organization of nonprofit technology professionals. As a community of nonprofit professionals, we aspire to a world where nonprofit groups of all types and sizes use technology strategically and confidently to fulfill their missions. Together, the NTEN community helps members put technology to work so they can bring about the change they want to see in the world. NTEN facilitates the exchange of knowledge and information within our community. We connect our members to each other, provide professional development opportunities, educate our constituency on issues of technology use in nonprofits, and spearhead groundbreaking research, advocacy, and education on technology issues affecting our entire community. About Idealware Idealware, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, provides thoroughly researched, impartial and accessible resources about software to help nonprofits make smart software decisions. By synthesizing vast amounts of original research into credible and approachable information, Idealware helps nonprofits make the most of their time and financial resources. Idealware specializes in combining traditional research techniques like interviews and surveys with softwareselection methodologies like detailed ratings of software tools against a rubric to generate important new knowledge on affordable budgets. We then package our findings into approachable reports, articles, and trainings that help nonprofits make the on-the-ground decisions important to them. PAGE 15 NONPROFIT DATA DECISION-MAKING WORKBOOK JANUARY 2013